Body Tempering, Cultivation Advice

Chen Qingke waved his left hand next, generating a warm gust of wind that swept over Di Tian and dried his body instantly.

"You've heard the introductory knowledge about cultivation from him already, so I'll just continue from there," Chen Qingke pointed at Di Tian. "There are nine stages to cultivation. For humans, the first stage is known as Body Tempering, where the physical body is specially cultivated.

Intrinsically, the physical bodies of humans cannot compare to that of Monsters and Demon, but Body Refinement allows us to at bridge the gap to some extent. Now, there are several methods to do so, but the core principle is to build a cultivator's physical foundation by systematically enhancing the body's internal and external structures.

The former includes the tissues, muscles and internal organ while the latter focuses solely on the surface defence of the body; the skin.

Now, Body Tempering involves three substages, each further divided into three levels each."

"That's nine levels in total for the first stage alone," Huang Shang muttered to himself. The others were also paying close attention.

Chen Qingke continued, "The first substage is Blood Power Cultivation which covers level one to level three; Heart Refinement, Bone Marrow Refinement and Spleen Refinement.

The goal of this substage in general is to enhance the quality and vitality of the blood by refining these three specific blood-related organs. At the same time, the meridians in the body are completely opened in the process."

"The meridians are tiny passages in the body that Qi pass through during circulation." He explained further. "Normally, they are inactive in mortals and have to be opened bit by bit during Blood Power cultivation."

"Wait, aren't those the tiny passages I saw with my Introspective Vision," Di Tian thought, putting two and two together. He felt it was strange; his meridians did not appear closed at all.

Meanwhile, Chen Qingke was still speaking, "The next substage which covers level four to six is Bone Power Cultivation. Here, all the bones in the body are specially refined and strengthened in turn.

The final substage of Body Refinement involves strengthening the external body. All of this typically takes about a hundred days in total, and when this is complete, a cultivator can formally condense a trace of True Qi and step into the second stage." He ended by mentioning a bit about the special techniques used to train the body at each level.

Liang Qiang asked hesitantly, "If it takes a 100 days to complete the first stage, does that mean the nine stages in total only take about nine thousand days? One can reach the peak of the ninth stage that easily?"

"Of course not," Chen Qingke laughed. "The first stage is the easiest cultivation stage. Going further, it's much harder to make progress. In fact, without talent, one can spend as much as several decades in the second stage alone."

"What cultivation stage are you at, Uncle," Jiang Po asked curiously.

"Don't call me Uncle, just call me Senior," Chen Qingke's expression turned sombre. "Also, note this. You should be very cautious about the kind of questions you ask.

The cultivation world is naturally cruel. Cultivation itself is a selfish defiance of the natural order, and every cultivator has to prioritize their own survival and growth. As such, there's an unspoken rule to respect the secrets and privacy of every cultivator."

Jiang Po apologized. Chen Qingke continued, changing the topic.

"With all the residents of your planet exhibiting special abilities, your status as a simple mortal colony has come to an end. You should prepare yourself for what is to come."

"What's coming?" Huang Shang whisper-asked the question that automatically formed in all of their minds.

"You'll see," Chen Qingke shrugged. Internally, he thought they were rather lucky; if he and the other delegates from the Universal Council weren't officially on mission the moment, they would have made haste to contact their own organizations immediately they discovered the anomaly on the planet.

Afterall, a world with a population of billions, all having a variant-type special abilities, was unheard of and definitely a catch. Secretly colonizing the planet and integrating the residents into theirs would increase the talent pool of their respective domains by a large margin.

Actually, Chen Qingke wasn't alone in thinking like this; Shen Li and Fang Ao secretly thought so too. Chen Qingke even suspected that some of the higher ups in the Council would find a way to absorb a portion of these talents for their own organizations under a righteous guise of offering protection.

"I could take the opportunity to recruit some of these mortals in advance," Chen Qingke was especially tempted as he remembered Fang Ao had just given one of these mortals spirit tea, probably trying to recruit him into his fold in secret. But Chen Qingke resisted this impulse; unlike Fang Ao and Shen Li, he didn't have a grand identity or backing outside the Council. Those two could afford to lose their membership, but he couldn't.

This train of thought made him reflect some more. As a dignified cultivator, he definitely shouldn't be displaying his chatterbox traits to a bunch of mortals, right?

"That's all," he suddenly puffed his chest and waved his hands majestically. Di Tian and the others blinked in confusion at his actions and blinked even harder when he vanished afterwards.

"Di Tian," Huang Shang suddenly broke the silence and prodded Di Tian. "Do you think we'll be given some spirit tea like you too?"

"I don't know," Di Tian shrugged. He was thinking about something.

Among the extra information Chen Qingke revealed, he had mentioned something about Body Tempering techniques.

These were similar to some body art native to Earth like the karate and kung fu disciplines, but there were of a higher grade and allowed one to increase the speed of Body Tempering.

Di Tian wasn't sure if the tea ceremony meditation counted as a Body Tempering art. This reminded him that Chen Qingke didn't even ask him what method he had used to absorb the energy contained in the spirit tea at all.

*****

In her chambers, Shen Li suddenly opened her eyes at this moment as a figure appeared in front of her.